Have kids be part of process of choosing what to make, or what ingredients to use. You can look at a cookbook together and let them select what dish they might like to try. Or you can let them pick some of the ingredients to use, such as what kinds of things to top their pizza, what kind of vegetable or pasta they’d like in their soup, or what kind of nuts and dried fruit they’d like in their granola.
Let them help choose which produce to put in the basket. You can teach them about how to choose fruit and vegetables which look the freshest and aren’t bruised or too soft. You can also count how many of each you need. If they are older, they can help read the shopping list and check off items as they are placed in the cart.
Have kids help you wash produce when you get home. They can use a brush to clean mushrooms. If you have a salad spinner, they can take turns making it spin and stopping it from spinning.
Shucking corn, snapping the ends off of green beans, breaking off broccoli and cauliflower florets are other easy and fun prepping tasks for children.
Children love to help measure and weigh ingredients, as well as add them to a bowl or pot. They can help you make batters for cake, cupcakes, pancakes, etc. Even very young children can participate.
Stirring, mixing, kneading ingredients together are all things kids of varying ages can do.
Older children can help with slicing and peeling fruit and vegetables. You can help them to use a plastic knife and help them cut softer produce, such as mushrooms, pears, strawberries, etc.
Children love to work with dough, such as kneading bread dough, rolling out cookie or pizza dough, cutting out shapes for cookies or scones, or shaping the dough, such as braiding bread dough or making rolls.
Even very young children will enjoy using a pastry brush to coat vegetables with olive oil, baking pans with melted butter, and pie crusts or bread loaves with an egg wash.
Have kids help you set the timer. You can teach them how to set an egg timer, by counting the lines in between numbers on a dial or how to press the numbers into a digital timer and press “start”.
